Device for distributing ventilating air

ABSTRACT

A ventilation device provided with a grille, pivotable along its lower edge and preferably arranged in a box, having a perforated front face and upper flange for horizontal and vertical air flow, respectively, for distributing air towards a window wall of a room from a duct outlet in an inner wall of said room. Exposure of the upper flange is adjusted by a setscrew passing through the grille front and threaded into a partially sound insulating wall having less height than the grille and being arranged between same and the duct. Air flow, regulated by throttling means in the duct connection, is adjusted by screwdriver through a front grille perforation.

United States Patent Nilsson et al.

[4 1 Aug. 26, 1975 DEVICE FOR DISTRIBUTING VENTILATING AIR [75]lnventors: Allan Elvir Nilsson, Tomelilla; Hans Giista Johansson, Alta,both of Sweden [73] Assignee: Ar-Ventilation AB, Stockholm,

Sweden [22] Filed: Jan. 8, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 431,727

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 16, 1973 Sweden 7300573 [52]11.8. C1 98/40 V; 98/41 R; 98/106; 98/99.2 [51] Int. Cl. F24F 13/00;E06B 7/02 [58] Field of Search 98/41 SV, 41 AV, 41 R, 98/40 VM, 40 V, 40R, 102, 103, 106, 108, 37, 40 D, 99.2, 99.3, 99.4

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,062,177 5/1913 McElfatrick98/41 AV 2,059,616 11/1936 Shortlidgc 98/99.2 2,341,113 2/1944 Nelson98/41 R 2,733,889 2/1956 Mattingly 98/41 R Primary Examiner-William E.Wayner Assistant Examinerl-lenry C. Yuen Attorney, Agent, or F irmYoung& Thompson [5 7 ABSTRACT A ventilation device provided with a grille,pivotable along its lower edge and preferably arranged in a box, havinga perforated front face and upper flange for horizontal and vertical airflow, respectively, for distributing air towards a window wall of a roomfrom a duct outlet in an inner wall of said room. Exposure of the upperflange is adjusted by a setscrew passing through the grille front andthreaded into a partially sound insulating wall having less height thanthe grille and being arranged between same and the duct. Air flow,regulated by throttling means in the duct connection, is adjusted byscrewdriver through a front grille perforation.

2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures f5 :9 J 2 11 l DEVICE FOR DISTRIBUTINGVENTILATING AIR If a stream of air, at lower than room temperature, isblown towards a window wall in a room, from an inner wall or ceilingadjacent thereto, and if said stream has a trajectory enabling it toreach the window wall, downdraught from the window is reinforced,causing a heavy draught which is primarily a floor draught. If a writingdesk is placed at the window, it will be draughty for the staff workingat the writing desk. In order to lessen the inconvenience caused bydraught in such ventilation installations where a cooled air supply isused, it has been necessary to lead in (supply) the air at the outsidewall. Such a ventilation system is expensive, since ventilation ductsmust be taken to the outer wall or walls and either cast in situ in thefloor or hidden behind a so-called false ceiling. To prevent draughts,or the feeling of draughts, it may be found necessary to use fresh airhaving a relatively high duct temperature, or also allow fresh air toflow into the room at a low velocity. If it has a high injectionvelocity, a stream of air from the fresh air ventilation opening cannamely pass right across the room to the windown wall, where it flowsdownwards, thus increasing the cold downdraught.

The present invention relates to a simple device by which theinconveniences mentioned can be circumvented and servicable distributionof the ventilating air flowing into a room can be obtained. It isassumed that the ventilation duct has its outlet at an inner wall andnot at an auter wall in the room, and that in front of the ventilationduct outlet there is provided an air routing element having theappearance of a grille or grid. The invention is primarily characterizedin that the grillelike air routing element, designated grille element inthe following, mainly determines two flow directions, the one upwardsand the other principally horizontal. The upwardly directed air streamis deflected along the ceiling of the room, and exerts a certainintermingling effect on the principally horizontally flowing air,thereby attaining quick admixture and distribution of the individualcurrents (streams) of air, and with the air in the room. In this manner,cold air never reaches the opposite wall, but is mixed up with the warmroom air at some distance in front of the outside (outer) wall of theroom. As a result, fresh air having a relatively low temperature, e.g.only 14C, can be used, when the temperature of the air in the rest ofthe room is 24C. Discomfort from convection currents and other airdraughts in occupancy zones of the room therefore does not arise.

In a simple embodiment of the invention the grille element can beprovided with a perforated flange at its upper edge, the flangeextending into the duct outlet, and the grille element being adjustablein such a way that the flange can be more or less exposed. When it isopen, the grille thereby allows air to flow not only principally atright angles to the plane of the grille, but alsoupwards through theperforated flange.

The grille element may form the forward wall in a box inserted into theduct outlet, being attached or connected to the box by its lower edge insuch a way that its upper edge can be swung towards and from the box. Aset-screw or the like, working against a spring can be arranged for thisadjustment.

Even distribution of air passing through the box as well as a certainamount of sound insulation, can be obtained if there is provided anintermediate wall within the duct outlet or box, respectively, andbehind the grille element, between the inside of the duct or an inlet onthe box, reppectively, and grille element, said intermediate walldownwardly defining a through opening through which the air must pass onits way to the grille element.

Further characterizing features of the invention, and the advantagesassociated therewith may be seen from the following description of anembodiment shown on the accompanying drawings, where FIG. 1 is avertical section through a room, in which the air distributing deviceaccording to the invention is placed,

FIG. 2 shows a perspective of the device in a larger scale,

FIG. 3 displays in an even larger scale a cross section along a planedenoted by the lines 33 in FIG. 2.

On the drawing the outer wall is designated by the numeral 1, in a roomhaving a window 2, and an oppositeinner wall 3. In the latter there isthe outlet for a ventilation duct 4 carrying fresh air intended to flowinto the room. In the outlet of the ventilation duct there is arranged abox 5 the outward side of which, turned towards the room, is providedwith a grille-like element 6. Box 5 is on its outward side provided witha flange 7 extending like a frame around the box and intended to coverthe edges of the opening in the wall in which the box is inserted. Alongits lower edge the grille element has a flange 8 folded inwards, whichgoes under a retainer 9, shaped like a half-stirrup, thus forming ajoint which makes it possible to swing the grille element somewhatoutwards and inwards about its lower edge. The grille element 6 isupwardly provided with an inwardly directed flange 10, having a numberof holes 11, for the passage of air. The grille element is also providedwith air passage holes 12. A setscrew 14 extends through the grille intoan intermediate wall 15, situated inside the box. Around screw 14 thereis placed a spring 16, compressed between the grille element 6 and theintermediate wall 15. By tightening or loosening screw 14 the grilleelement can be moved outwards or inwards, so that flange 10 with itsholes 11 is exposed to a greater or lesser extent outside the-outwardedge of the box.

The intermediate wall 15 extends downwards a portion from the upper sideof the box, but terminates above the bottom of the box so that a throughflow area or slot 17 is formed here, extending from one side of the boxto the other.

The box is provided on one side with an air intake stub 18, flow-throughbeing regulated by a throttle butterfly 19, mounted on a rotatable shaft20 provided with an arm 21. In its turn, arm 21 is joined by link 22 toa crank 23 mounted on turning pin 24. This pin is provided with ascrewdriver slot 25, opposite an opening in the grille element 6. Thisarrangement allows setting the throttle 19 to a more or less openposition by turning pin 24 in one or the other direction with ascrewdriver.

The modus operandi of the device which has been described is mainly asfollows. If the grille element 6 has been adjusted by the setscrew 14 tothe position shown in FIG. 3 by full lines, air flows from the boxprincipally at right angles to the plane of the grille, i.e.horizontally out into the room from wall 3 towards the outer wall 1.Hereby there is the risk that the cold air 3 follows down along theoutside wall and reinforces the downdraught from window 2, giving riseto a floor draught. If, on the other hand, the grille is swung out tothe position shown by dotted lines in FIG. 3, by tuming the setscrew l4and with the help of the bias from spring 16, the holes 11 facingupwards in flange are exposed. Consequently, an upwardly directed streamof air will flow through the holes, as noted by the arrow 26 in FIG. 1.This air stream is deflected along the ceiling and thereby catches upthe air which flows out through the openings 12 in the grille. Air fromopenings 12, as denoted by an arrow 27 in FIG. 1, is mixed up with theupwardly directed air stream 26 and with the air in the room, so that itdoes not reach the outer wall.

The formation of draughts is hereby effectively circumvented.

Air flows into the box 5 through the stub 18, and the quantity of air isregulated by the throttle 19. The air flowing into the box flows downinto area 17 under the intermediate wall and is here distributed alongthe whole width of the box. The wall 15 also has a sound insulatingeffect, allowing the device to accept relatively large amounts of airwithout causing a disturbing noise.

To regulate the incoming air to the right amount, a pressure measuringoutlet can be arranged in the box, this outlet being connected to amicro pressure gauge on which the pressure drop can be read according tothe adjustment of throttle 19.

What we claim is:

1. An air distributing device for distributing air flowing into a roomhaving an inner wall from a duct outlet in said inner wall anddischarging air into the room, said air from the duct being dischargedinto the room through said device at least a portion of which isdisposed in said duct outlet, said device comprising a boxlike housinghaving air inlet means and air outlet means for feeding air into theroom, said outlet means having primary and secondary air openings in agrille element which is movably fitted in a front wall of said housingand which determines two flow directions into the room, one saiddirection being upward and the other said direction being substantiallyhorizontally in the room, an upper edge of said grille elementcomprising a perforated flange extending into the housing toward therear portion of the device and containing said secondary openings, andmeans mounting the grille element for adjustive movement into differentpositions in the housing front wall in such a manner that the flangeopenings are exposed to a greater of lesser extent, the air therebypassing through the grille element not only mainly at right angles tothe plane of said element but also upward through said flange, thegrille element being attached or joined to the housing front wall alongthe lower edge of said element and being maintained adjustably inposition by a setscrew, and an intermediate wall inside the housingupstream of the grille element and downstream of air inlet means havingthe form of an air intake stub, a lower portion of the intermediate walltogether with the inside pf the housing defining a flow passage throughwhich the air must pass on its way to the grille element, said intakestub having a throttle for regulating the air flow through the device,which throttle by means of a link is connected to a crank joined to aninner end of an adjustment screw accessible through the grille elementprimary openings.

2. A device according to claim 1, said pn'mary air openings being freefrom closure means and permanently open.

1. An air distributing device for distributing air flowing into a roomhaving an inner wall from a duct outlet in said inner wall anddischarging air into the room, said air from the duct being dischargedinto the room through said device at least a portion of which isdisposed in said duct outlet, said device comprising a box-like housinghaving air inlet means and air outlet means for feeding air into theroom, said outlet means having primary and secondary air openings in agrille element which is movably fitted in a front wall of said housingand which determines two flow directions into the room, one saiddirection being upward and the other said direction being substantiallyhorizontally in the room, an upper edge of said grille elementcomprising a perforated flange extending into the housing toward therear portion of the device and containing said secondary openings, andmeans mounting the grille element for adjustive movement into differentpositions in the housing front wall in such a manner that the flangeopenings are exposed to a greater of lesser extent, the air therebypassing through the grille element not only mainly at right angles tothe plane of said element but also upward through said flange, thegrille element being attached or joined to the housing front wall alongthe lower edge of said element and being maintained adjustably inposition by a setscrew, and an intermediate wall inside the housingupstream of the grille element and downstream of air inlet means havingthe form of an air intake stub, a lower portion of the intermediate walltogether with the inside of the housing defining a flow passage throughwhich the air must pass on its way to the grille element, said intakestub having a throttle for regulating the air flow through the device,which throttle by means of a link is connected to a crank joined to aninner end of an adjustment screw accessible through the grille elementprimary openings.
 2. A device according to claim 1, said primary airopenings being free from closure means and permanently open.